U.S. citizen tested for Ebola in Ghana

ACCRA (Reuters) - A U.S. citizen in Ghana is being tested
for Ebola after he fell ill following a trip to two countries in
the region battling the disease, a senior government official
said on Monday.

"He is an American and records showed that he had been to
Guinea and Sierra Leone in the past few weeks," a senior health
ministry official told Reuters. Test results are expected later
on Monday. The Ministry of Health said in a statement a patient,
who has not been named, was in quarantine at Nyaho clinic in
Accra and tests were being conducted at Noguchi Memorial
Institute of Medical Research in Accra. It urged the public to
remain calm.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy in Ghana said it had been
informed by the laboratory that a U.S. citizen was being tested
for suspected Ebola and it was working to confirm this.

Health officials have called for regional action to halt the
world's deadliest outbreak of the disease, which has spread
across Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, killing at least 467
people since February.

Ebola causes fever, vomiting, bleeding and diarrhea and
kills up to 90 percent of those it infects. Highly contagious,
it is transmitted through contact with blood or other fluids.